Information Processing Apparatus, Information Processing Method and Computer Program

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a display unit for displaying thereon a plurality of input regions operated by an operating body, a detection unit for detecting an approach distance between the operating body and a surface of the display unit, and a region control unit for, when the operating body approaches one of the input regions within a predetermined distance, enlarging the input region which the operating body approaches, and moving at least one of the input regions such that the adjacent input regions do not overlap each other. The input region is enlarged and an overlap between the input regions is avoided so that a user can easily select a desired input region, thereby preventing erroneous selection of other input region.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus,information processing method and computer program, and moreparticularly to an information processing apparatus including anon-screen keyboard, information processing method and computer program.

2. Description of the Related Art

Since a touch sensor can realize an intuitive and user-friendly userinterface, it has been used in ticketing machines in transportationfacilities or ATMs in banks in related art. In recent years, the touchsensor can detect a user' operation, thereby realizing device operationswhich have not been found in button operations in related art. Thus,recently, the touch sensor has been widely used in portable devices suchas cell phone or game device.

Some devices having a touch panel mounted thereon include not a physicalkeyboard but an on-screen keyboard as software keyboard by whichcharacters are input from a screen (Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2002-297293, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.08-234909, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 05-197471, JapanesePatent Application Laid-Open No. 02-136914, and Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 2008-9759, for example). There was an issue inthe on-screen keyboard that a user can easily input characters while thekeys are blocked by a user's finger. A solution for recognizing auser-focusing key is conducted against the above issue. For example, inJapanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-297293, Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 08-234909, Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 05-197471, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.02-136914, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-9759,there is performed a processing in which a user-focusing key and itssurrounding keys are enlarged in size and the focused key is offset tobe displayed outside a finger-blocking region.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, there was an issue that an enlargement of key causes adjacentkeys to block each other in the key enlargement processing. Further, ina key movement processing, a user moves his/her finger on a screen whiletouching a key, and then moves the finger away from the screen afterconfirming the display, thereby fixing the key. However, when theuser-touched position is on the user-intended key, the user can performa tap operation to fix the key, but when the user-touched position isnot on the user-intended key, the user has to move the finger onto theintended key. This is because once the user moves a finger away from thescreen, the operation on the presently-focused key is fixed and the userhas to perform an operation of canceling the key operation. There iseasily assumed that such erroneous key touching is considered tofrequently occur, which imposes user's operation load.

The present invention has been therefore made in views of the aboveissues, and it is desirable to provide a novel and improved informationprocessing apparatus, information processing method and computer programcapable of smoothly performing key inputting on an on-screen keyboard.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is providedan information processing apparatus including: a display unit fordisplaying thereon a plurality of input regions operated by an operatingbody; a detection unit for detecting an approach distance between theoperating body and a surface of the display unit; and a region controlunit for, when the operating body approaches one of the input regionswithin a predetermined distance, enlarging the input region which theoperating body approaches, and moving at least one of the input regionssuch that the adjacent input regions do not overlap each other.

According to the present invention, when the detection unit detects anapproach or contact between the operating body and the display unit, theregion control unit enlarges the operating body-approaching or-contacting input region. At least one of the input regions is movedalong with the enlargement such that adjacent input regions do notoverlap each other. As described above, the input region is enlarged andthe overlap between the input regions is avoided so that the user caneasily select a his/her desired input region, thereby preventingerroneous selection of other input region.

The region control unit can include: a size decision unit for deciding asize of the input region after being changed depending on the approachdistance of the operating body; and an ideal position calculation unitfor calculating an ideal position where the adjacent input regionshaving a changed size do not overlap each other.

Further, the ideal position calculation unit may include: an overlapavoidance region decision unit for deciding an overlap avoidance regionfor avoiding an overlap with the other input regions in the input regionhaving a changed size; a pair decision unit for deciding a pair of theadjacent input regions; an ideal relative position decision unit fordeciding an ideal relative position where the corresponding overlapavoidance regions do not overlap each other for the pair of inputregions; and an ideal position decision unit for minimizing a differencebetween a present relative position of the corresponding overlapavoidance region and the ideal relative position and calculating theideal position.

The ideal relative position decision unit, when a present position ofthe overlap avoidance region corresponding to the paired input regiondoes not overlap, can assume the present position of the overlapavoidance region as the ideal relative position, and when the presentposition of the overlap avoidance region corresponding to the pairedinput region overlaps, assume the position to which one of the overlapavoidance regions is moved in a reference line direction connecting thecenters of the overlap avoidance regions so as not to overlap the otheroverlap avoidance region as the ideal relative position.

Further, the size decision unit may optimize an enlargement factor ofthe input regions such that all the input regions are within apredetermined range.

Furthermore, the information processing apparatus according to thepresent invention can further include a prediction unit for predictinginput information to be input by a user. At this time, the regioncontrol unit may change a display of the input region based onpredictive input information as the input information predicted by theprediction unit.

The prediction unit can analyze already-input information already inputfrom the input regions and predict the input region to be operated nextfor inputting the predictive input information as asubsequently-operated region. At this time, the region control unitchanges a display of the predicted subsequently-operated region.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided an information processing method including the steps of:displaying a plurality of input regions operated by an operating body ona display unit; detecting an approach distance between the operatingbody and a surface of the display unit; and when the operating bodyapproaches one of the input regions within a predetermined distance,enlarging the input region which the operating body approaches, andmoving at least one of the input regions such that the adjacent inputregions do not overlap each other.

Further, the region control step may include the steps of: deciding asize of the input region changed depending on the approach distance ofthe operating body; and calculating an ideal position where the adjacentinput regions having a changed size do not overlap each other.

Further, the ideal position calculating step can include the steps of:deciding an overlap avoidance region where an overlap with the otherinput region is avoided for the changed size of the input region;deciding a pair of the adjacent input regions; deciding an idealrelative position where the corresponding overlap avoidance regions donot overlap each other for the pair of input regions; and minimizing adifference between a present relative position of the correspondingoverlap avoidance region and the ideal relative position and calculatingthe ideal position.

The ideal relative position deciding step, when a present position ofthe overlap avoidance region corresponding to the paired input regiondoes not overlap, may assume the present position of the overlapavoidance region as the ideal relative position, and when the presentposition of the overlap avoidance region corresponding to the pairedinput region overlaps, may assume the position to which one of theoverlap avoidance regions is moved in a reference line directionconnecting the centers of the overlap avoidance regions so as not tooverlap the other overlap avoidance region as the ideal relativeposition.

Further, the size deciding step may optimize an enlargement factor ofthe input regions such that all the input regions are within apredetermined range.

Furthermore, the information processing method according to the presentinvention can include a step of predicting input information to be inputby a user. Here, the region control step may change a display of theinput region based on predictive input information as the predictedinput information.

Further, the predicting step may analyze already-input informationalready input from the input regions and predict the input region to beoperated next for inputting the predictive input information as asubsequently-operated region. At this time, the region control step canchange a display of the predicted subsequently-operated region.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a computer program for causing a computer to function as theinformation processing apparatus. The computer program is stored in astorage device included in the computer, and is read and executed by theCPU included in the computer, thereby causing the computer to functionas the information processing apparatus. Further, there is also provideda computer readable recording medium in which the computer program isrecorded. The recording medium is a magnetic disc, optical disc, MO(Magneto Optical) disc and the like, for example. Examples of themagnetic disc include a hard disc, a disc-shaped magnetic disc and thelike. Further, examples of the optical disc include a CD (Compact Disc),DVD-R (Digital Versatile Disc Recordable), BD (Blu-Ray Disc (registeredtrademark)) and the like.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, there can beprovided an information processing apparatus, information processingmethod and computer program capable of smoothly performing key inputtingon the on-screen keyboard.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of aninformation processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of theinformation processing apparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a display processing method of theinformation processing apparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a focus display processing according tothe first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of a display panel whena processing in step S210 or S220 is performed;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of the display panelwhen a processing in step S230 is performed;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing one example of an idealrelative position calculation method;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of the display panelwhen a processing in step S240 is performed;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing one example of a size andarrangement of keys when a focus display processing according to thefirst embodiment is performed;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the sizeand arrangement of the keys when the focus display processing accordingto the first embodiment is performed; and

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of aninformation processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. Note that,in this specification and the appended drawings, structural elementsthat have substantially the same function and structure are denoted withthe same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of thesestructural elements is omitted.

First Embodiment

At first, a schematic configuration of an information processingapparatus 100 according to a first embodiment of the present inventionwill be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a plan viewshowing the schematic configuration of the information processingapparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a blockdiagram showing a functional configuration of the information processingapparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

<Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus>

The information processing apparatus 100 according to the presentembodiment includes a display panel 110 having a touch panel mountedthereon, and is used for ATM in a bank, or portable device such as PDA,cell phone or MP3 player, for example. The display panel 110 accordingto the present embodiment includes a display unit (reference numeral 112in FIG. 2) and a detection unit (reference numeral 114 in FIG. 2) fordetection an operation on the display unit. The display unit of thedisplay panel 110 displays thereon an input display unit 102 on whichinput characters are displayed, a key input unit 104 made of severalkeys for inputting characters such as alphabets or symbols, and a fixedinput unit 106 such as input keys or decision key as shown in FIG. 1,for example.

When a user inputs a character from the information processing apparatus100 including such an on-screen keyboard, the user contacts a keyposition corresponding to a character to be input by his/her finger orthe like. At this time, when a finger's approach or contact to thedisplay unit within a predetermined distance is detected by thedetection unit for detecting key inputting, the character is determinedto have been input and is displayed on the input display unit 102. Thefunctional configuration of the information processing apparatus 100according to the present embodiment will be described below in detail.

The information processing apparatus 100 according to the presentembodiment includes the display panel 110, an information processingunit 120, a region control unit 130 and a display processing unit 140 asshown in FIG. 2.

The display panel 110 is a function unit which detects an operating bodysuch as user's finger or hand and receives a user's operation, andincludes the display unit 112 and the detection unit 114 as describedabove. The display unit 112 is, for example, a liquid crystal display,and is driven and controlled by the display processing unit 140 throughthe information processing unit 120. The display unit 112 displaysthereon an on-screen keyboard as shown in FIG. 1 or characters inputthrough the keyboard. The detection unit 114 detects an input operationonto the on-screen keyboard displayed on the display unit 112. Thedisplay panel 110 according to the present embodiment includes anoptical touch sensor for detecting a change in the amount of light(darkness of shadow) to detect an approach of the operating body. Atthis time, the detection unit 114 can integrally provide one set ofthree pixels such as red, green and blue as a light reception unit intothe display panel 110. The detection unit 114 converts a received lightinto an electric signal and transmits the electric signal to theinformation processing unit 120.

The information processing unit 120 is a driver for processinginformation exchanged between the display panel 110 and the regioncontrol unit 130 or the display processing unit 140. The informationprocessing unit 120 calculates an approach position of the operatingbody based on the electric signal received from the detection unit 114,and transmits the calculated position as approach position informationto the region control unit 130. The approach position information isexpressed in a three-dimensional coordinate with the center of thedisplay unit 112 as the origin, for example. Further, the informationprocessing unit 120 receives display drive information for displayingthe changed display contents from the display processing unit 140 to thedisplay unit 112, and transmits it to the display unit 112.

The region control unit 130 calculates a size and a display position ofa key to be displayed on the display unit 112 based on the approachposition information of the operating body. The region control unit 130includes a size decision unit 132 and an ideal position calculation unit134, for example.

The size decision unit 132 decides the size of the input key based onthe approach potion information received from the information processingunit 120. In the information processing apparatus 100 according to thepresent embodiment, the size of an operating body-approaching key andthe size of surrounding keys thereof are enlarged than atypically-displayed basic size, thereby preventing the keys from beingblocked by the operating body. When deciding the size of the key basedon the approach position information, the size decision unit 132transmits the changed size of the key to the ideal position calculationunit 134.

The ideal position calculation unit 134 performs a processing ofavoiding an overlap between the size-changed keys. The ideal positioncalculation unit 134 decides an overlap avoidance region for avoiding anoverlap with other keys in terms of the changed size of the keys.Further, the ideal position calculation unit 134 decides a pair ofmutually adjacent keys and decides an ideal relative position where thepaired keys do not overlap each other. The ideal position calculationunit 134 minimize a difference between the relative position of thecurrent pair of keys and the ideal relative position, and calculates anideal position where the overlap between keys is entirely avoided. Theideal position calculation unit 134 transmits position information onthe calculated ideal position to the display processing unit 140. Theposition information on the ideal position can be also expressed in thethree-dimensional coordinate with the center of the display unit 112 asthe origin, for example.

The display processing unit 140 processes the display drive informationfor displaying the calculated ideal position on the ideal positioncalculation unit 134. The display processing unit 140 generates andtransmits the display drive information on the display unit 112 fordisplaying an ideal position to the information processing unit 120. Theregion control unit 130 and the display processing unit 140 can beconfigured as an application program for controlling the informationprocessing apparatus 100.

The configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 accordingto the present embodiment has been described above. The informationprocessing apparatus 100 enlarges a key corresponding to a character tobe input and its surrounding keys in size and changes the key displayposition to avoid an overlap between enlarged keys in order to makeuser's key inputting smooth. A display processing method of theinformation processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodimentwill be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is aflowchart showing the display processing method of the informationprocessing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 isa flowchart showing a focus display processing according to the presentembodiment.

<Key Display Processing Method>

At first, the display processing method according to the presentembodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3. The informationprocessing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment detects anapproach of an operating body such as user's finger or hand by thedetection unit 114 and then starts a processing of changing the displaycontents of the key input unit 104 (step S110). The detection unit 114can detect an approach distance of the operating body based on a changein the amount of received light as described above. When the operatingbody approaches the display unit 112, the amount of light detected bythe detection unit 114 provided at the approach position decreases. Thedetection unit 114 converts the detected amount of light into anelectric signal and transmits the signal to the information processingunit 120. The information processing unit 120 specifies a position(approach position) of the key focused by the operating body through thereceived electric signal.

Next, when it is determined that the operating body is approaching thedisplay unit 112 within a predetermined distance, there is performed afocus display processing of enlarging a focused key in size anddisplaying keys not to overlap each other on the key input unit 104(step S120). The focus display processing is performed to change thedisplay contents on the key input unit 104, thereby making user's keyinputting smooth and preventing erroneous key touching. The focusdisplay processing will be described below in detail.

When the changed display position is decided by the focus displayprocessing, the key is displayed on the changed display position (stepS130). The display processing unit 140 generates the display driveinformation for changing the display positions of the keys of the keyinput unit 104, and drives and controls the display unit 112 based onthe display drive information.

In this manner, when an approach or contact of the operating body to thedisplay unit 112 is detected, the information processing apparatus 100according to the present embodiment performs the focus displayprocessing to display a key to be focused in an enlarged manner and todisplay the key at the position where the overlap between keys isavoided. The focus display processing according to the presentembodiment will be described below in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

<Focus Display Processing>

The focus display processing according to the present embodiment decidesthe changed size of the key at first as shown in FIG. 4 (step S210). Thesize decision unit 132 sets a key (focused key) at an operatingbody-approaching position and its surrounding keys to be larger than thetypical basic size. For example, the size of the focused key is set tobe about four times the basic size, the size of the surrounding keys isset to be about twice the basic size, and the size of other keys is setat the basic size. In this manner, the size decision unit 132 decidesthe changed size of the keys. The keys positioned around the focused keycan be assumed to be adjacent to the focused key, for example. The keyshape may be changed to be similar between before and after the change,or to be different between before and after the change. The position andsize of the fixed input unit 106 such as input key or decision key isassumed to be unchanged.

Next, the ideal position calculation unit 134 decides an overlapavoidance region where an overlap between keys is avoided (step S220).The overlap avoidance region is provided for each key as a region wherean overlap with other keys is desired to be avoided as much as possible.The overlap avoidance region is decided based on the changed size of thekey decided in step S210, for example, and can be assumed as a regionincluding the region of the changed key.

FIG. 5 shows a state of the display panel 110 when a processing in stepS210 or S220 is performed. As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality ofsubstantially circular keys 200 are arranged on the display panel 110.There is assumed such that the user's finger 10 as operating bodyapproaches the display panel 110 and the maximum approach to thealphabet “G” is detected. At this time, the alphabet “G” is set at aboutfour times the basic size, its surrounding keys 200 are set at abouttwice the basic size and the other keys 200 remain at the basic size.

When the changed size of the keys 200 is decided, the overlap avoidanceregion 210 of each key 200 is decided. In the example, the overlapavoidance region 210 is set as a minimum rectangle including the regionsof the substantially circular keys 200 being changed. The overlapavoidance region 210 may be square or rectangular, or circular.

The overlap avoidance processing is performed for displaying the overlapavoidance region 210 of each key not to be overlapped. At first, theinformation processing unit 120 extracts an approach relationshipbetween keys (step S230). Step S230 is performed as a preprocessing forcalculating an ideal relative position for avoiding an overlap betweenadjacent keys. In the present embodiment, the information processingunit 120 performs Delaunay triangulation with the centers of the overlapavoidance regions 210 as a group of input points, for example, andextracts the approach relationship between keys. The Delaunaytriangulation is performed so that a key 200 being approached can berecognized more rapidly. A Delaunay side 220 defined by the processingis as shown in FIG. 6.

Next, the ideal relative position is calculated (step S240). In stepS240, in a pair of overlap avoidance regions connected by the Delaunaysides 220 calculated in step S230, an ideal relative position where theoverlap is not present is calculated. One example of the ideal relativeposition calculation method will be described with reference to FIG. 7.FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing one example of the idealrelative position calculation method, where only one pair of overlapavoidance regions 210 a and 210 b is illustrated for convenientexplanation.

The left diagram in FIG. 7 shows the overlap avoidance regions 210 a and210 b at present (before changing the display region). The centerposition of the overlap avoidance region 210 a is assumed as v_(i) andthe center position of the overlap avoidance region 210 b is assumed asv_(j). When the overlap avoidance regions 210 a and 210 b overlap eachother, the center positions v_(i) and v_(j) of the overlap avoidanceregions 210 a and 210 b are connected to decide a reference line 215.Next, as illustrated in the center diagram in FIG. 7, one overlapavoidance region (the overlap avoidance region 210 b in FIG. 7) is movedin parallel along with the reference line 215 until an overlap with theother overlap avoidance region (the overlap avoidance region 210 a inFIG. 7) is eliminated. Thus, the positions of the keys 200 can bechanged without changing the relative direction of adjacent keys 200.

Then, a position where the overlap between the two overlap avoidanceregions 210 a and 210 b is eliminated, which is illustrated in the rightdiagram in FIG. 7, can be assumed as the ideal relative position. Thelength of the overlapped portion in the xy direction may be set suchthat each overlap avoidance region 210 a, 210 b can move at the shortestdistance. On the other hand, when the overlap avoidance regions 210 aand 210 b do not overlap each other, the present position may be assumedas the ideal relative position.

When the ideal relative position is calculated, a difference between thepresent relative position and the ideal relative position is minimized.The minimizing processing may employ the least square method, forexample. At this time, the center of the screen is assumed as the centerof gravity of the entire overlap avoidance regions 210, thereby fixingthe display region. The processing of minimizing the difference betweenthe present relative position and the ideal relative position can beperformed by the following Formula 1:

$\begin{matrix}{v_{i_{new}} = {\arg \; \min \left\{ {{\sum\limits_{i,j}{{\left( {v_{i} - v_{j}} \right) - {dv}_{ij}}}^{2}} + {{\left( {\frac{1}{n}{\sum\limits_{i}v_{i}}} \right) - c}}^{2}} \right\}}} & \left\lbrack {{Formula}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

where v_(i) and v_(j) are the respective center positions of a pair ofoverlap avoidance regions 210 and correspond to the start point and theend point of the Delaunay side, respectively. dv_(ij) denotes an idealrelative position of v_(i) relative to v_(j). n denotes the number ofapexes constituting the Delaunay side, that is the number of overlapavoidance regions. c is the center of gravity of the entire overlapavoidance regions and in the present embodiment is the center coordinateof the screen of the display unit 112. In this manner, each position ofv_(i) for minimizing the calculated value is calculated by Formula 1. Inthe present embodiment, the processing in Formula 1 is performed onlyonce for speeding up the processing, which does not ensure that the keysdo not completely overlap each other. Thus, in order to completelyeliminate an overlap between keys, the processing may be performedseveral times, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the changed position.

Then, the ideal position v_(inew) to which each overlap avoidance region210 is moved is decided and displayed on the display panel 110 (stepS250). In this manner, the focus display processing according to thepresent embodiment is performed so that a key near a user's finger isenlarged to be displayed but the surrounding keys of the key to beenlarged enlarge their key size while moving in parallel to avoid anoverlap. Then, a key away from the finger may hold its basic positionand basic size.

FIG. 8 shows a state of the display panel 110 when a processing in stepS240 is performed. As shown in FIG. 8, in the ideal position 230 whichis a position in the overlap avoidance region of the changed keycalculated by Formula 1, the focused key is enlarged as compared with inthe present position of the overlap avoidance region 210 and itssurrounding keys take positions away from the enlarged key.

Thereafter, when the user's finger 10 further approaches and contactsthe display panel 110 from the position shown in FIG. 8, the size of thefocused alphabet “G” key is further enlarged as compared with before thecontact of the user's finger 10 as shown in FIG. 9, for example. At thistime, the surrounding keys of the alphabet “G” key are made smaller ascompared with FIG. 8. Thus, the key through which the user inputs iseasier to input, thereby preventing erroneous touching of other keys.

There is assumed that the user moves the finger 10 to the alphabet “T”while contacting the finger 10 on the display panel 110. At this time,the information processing apparatus 100 can detect the direction of thefinger 10 as the operating body by the detection unit 114 of the displaypanel 110 and enlarge the key size of a key having a high possibility ofbeing touched. For example, the information processing apparatus 100enlarges the size of the alphabets “T”, “F” and “Y” positioned in thefinger-moving direction as shown in FIG. 10 as compared with the stateof FIG. 9. The key size of the alphabets “B”, “V” and “H” positionedopposite to the finger moving direction and the key size of the alphabet“G” on which the finger 10 is placed are reduced as compared with thestate of FIG. 9. Thus, the keys having a high possibility of beingtouched by the user are easier to touch while the keys having a lowpossibility of being touched are prevented from being erroneouslyoperated.

The information processing apparatus 100 according to the firstembodiment and the key display processing method using the same havebeen described above. According to the present embodiment, a focused keyand its surrounding keys on the display unit 112 which the operatingbody approaches or contacts are enlarged in the display size and eachkey is displayed at the position where an overlap between keys isavoided. Thus, user's key inputting can be performed smoothly.

In step S210, an enlargement factor of individual key may be optimizedsuch that the entire area of the key input unit 104 is not changed. Forexample, the keys away from the focused key are displayed to be smallerthan the basic size so that the keys 200 of the key input unit 104 areadjusted to be within a predetermined display region. Thus, also whenthe number of keys to be enlarged through multipoint input is increased,the entire key input unit 104 can be displayed not to be offset from thedisplay region on the display panel 110.

Second Embodiment

Next, an information processing apparatus 300 according to a secondembodiment of the present invention will be described with reference toFIG. 11. The information processing apparatus 300 according to thepresent embodiment is different from the information processingapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment in that it includes aprediction unit 350 for predicting input information. The configurationand processing of the information processing apparatus 300 according tothe present embodiment will be described mainly based on the differencewith the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 11. FIG. 11 is a blockdiagram showing a functional configuration of the information processingapparatus 300 according to the present embodiment.

<Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus>

The information processing apparatus 300 according to the presentembodiment includes a display panel 310 having a display unit 312 and adetection unit 314, an information processing unit 320, a region controlunit 330 having a size decision unit 332 and an ideal positioncalculation unit 334, a display processing unit 340 and the predictionunit 350 as shown in FIG. 11. The display panel 310, the informationprocessing unit 320, the region control unit 330 and the displayprocessing unit 340 have the similar functions and configurations tothose of the display panel 110, the information processing unit 120, theregion control unit 130 and the display processing unit 140 according tothe first embodiment, respectively. Thus, the explanation thereof willbe omitted.

The prediction unit 350 is a function unit for predicting inputinformation to be input by the user. When an approach or contact of theoperating body to the display panel 310 is detected by the detectionunit 314, the prediction unit 350 predicts a word to be input from thealready-input characters, and automatically generates one or severalcandidate character strings (predictive input information). Then, theprediction unit 350 analyzes the readings of the candidate characterstrings and transmits the analysis result via the information processingunit 320 to the region control unit 330.

<Application to Predictive Conversion Function>

The information processing apparatus 300 according to the presentembodiment can predict a word to be input by the prediction unit 350from a character to be input by the user. The predictive conversionprocessing can be performed by using an existing method. The predictionunit 350 further analyzes a reading of a predicted word and obtains acharacter to be input next for each candidate character string. Thecharacter to be input next is directed for narrowing the candidatecharacter strings. The prediction unit 350 transmits the obtainedcharacter via the information processing unit 320 to the region controlunit 330.

The region control unit 330 which has received the candidates of thecharacter to be input next decides the changed size of the key by thesize decision unit 332 at first. For example, the key size of thecharacter to be input next is enlarged than the basic size and the sizeof other characters remain at the basic size. Then, the ideal positioncalculation unit 334 decides an overlap avoidance region where anoverlap between keys is avoided. The overlap avoidance region can bedecided based on the changed size of the key decided by the sizedecision unit 332 similarly to the first embodiment, and can be assumedas a region including a region of the changed key, for example.

Further, in order to display an overlap avoidance region of each key ina non-overlapped manner, after the approach relationship between keys isextracted, the ideal relative position is calculated. When a pair ofoverlap avoidance regions is decided from the approach relationshipbetween keys, the ideal relative position where the two overlapavoidance regions do not overlap each other is calculated for each pair.The processing can be performed similarly to the first embodiment. Whenthe ideal relative position is calculated, the above Formula 1 is used,for example, to minimize the difference between the present relativeposition and the ideal relative position. The position (ideal position)of each moved key can be calculated in this manner.

As described above, the focus display processing described in the firstembodiment is applied to the predictive conversion function so that thekey of a character to be input next for a candidate character string isdisplayed in an enlarged manner and its surrounding keys are displayedat the basic size. The surrounding keys are displayed not to overlap thekey to be touched next. Thus, the key to be touched next by the user iseasy to touch, and the candidate character strings can be smoothlynarrowed.

The information processing apparatus 300 according to the presentembodiment performs the enlargement of keys and the avoidance of overlapto make key inputting smooth but can induce the key to be touched nextto the user by a difference in color between the key to be touched nextand other keys. Further, the information processing apparatus 300displays one or several candidate character strings of the predictedword on the display unit 312 of the key display panel 310 so that theuser can select the candidate character string.

In the above embodiments, the display panel includes an optical touchsensor for detecting an approach or contact of the operating body, butthe present invention is not limited to the example. For example, anapproach or contact of the operating body can be detected by using atypical capacitance touch sensor or resistive film touch sensor, forexample. In a personal computer, for example, also when a mouse is usedto operate a mouse cursor for key inputting, a distance from the mousecursor position to each key is calculated, thereby performing theenlargement of the key to be focused and the overlap avoidanceprocessing similarly to the above embodiments.

The display processing on the on-screen keyboard has been described inthe above embodiments, but the present invention is not limited thereto.The information processing apparatus according to the above embodimentscan be applied to menu selection on a home screen, track selection basedon text or image such as jacket photograph in a music player, photographselection in a photo viewer, thumbnail selection in an animation player,for example. Furthermore, the information processing apparatus accordingto the above embodiments can be applied to enlarged display of aspecific portion and overlap avoidance processing therearound in a mapapplication or Web browser.

The display panel including the display unit and the detection unit isprovided together with the region control unit and the displayprocessing unit for performing the key size enlargement and the overlapavoidance processing in the above embodiments, but the present inventionis not limited thereto. The display panel can be separately providedfrom the region control unit and the display processing unit. Forexample, the key size enlargement and the overlap avoidance processingmay be performed in a computer connected to the display panel, or thelike.

The present application contains subject matter related to thatdisclosed in Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2008-234511 filedin the Japan Patent Office on Sep. 12, 2008, the entire content of whichis hereby incorporated by reference.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

1. An information processing apparatus comprising: a display unit fordisplaying thereon a plurality of input regions operated by an operatingbody; a detection unit for detecting an approach distance between theoperating body and a surface of the display unit; and a region controlunit for enlarging the input region which the operating body approachesand moving at least one of the input regions such that the adjacentinput regions do not overlap each other when the operating bodyapproaches one of the input regions within a predetermined distance. 2.The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theregion control unit comprises: a size decision unit for deciding a sizeof the input region after being changed depending on the approachdistance of the operating body; and an ideal position calculation unitfor calculating an ideal position where the adjacent input regionshaving a changed size do not overlap each other.
 3. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ideal positioncalculation unit comprises: an overlap avoidance region decision unitfor deciding an overlap avoidance region for avoiding an overlap withthe other input regions in the input region having a changed size; apair decision unit for deciding a pair of the adjacent input regions; anideal relative position decision unit for deciding an ideal relativeposition where the corresponding overlap avoidance regions do notoverlap each other for the pair of input regions; and an ideal positiondecision unit for minimizing a difference between a present relativeposition of the corresponding overlap avoidance region and the idealrelative position and calculating the ideal position.
 4. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the ideal relativeposition decision unit, when a present position of the overlap avoidanceregion corresponding to the paired input region does not overlap,assumes the present position of the overlap avoidance region as theideal relative position, and when the present position of the overlapavoidance region corresponding to the paired input region overlaps,assumes the position to which one of the overlap avoidance regions ismoved in a reference line direction connecting the centers of theoverlap avoidance regions so as not to overlap the other overlapavoidance region as the ideal relative position.
 5. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the size decisionunit optimizes an enlargement factor of the input regions such that allthe input regions are within a predetermined range.
 6. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising aprediction unit for predicting input information to be input by a user,wherein the region control unit changes a display of the input regionbased on predictive input information as the input information predictedby the prediction unit.
 7. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 6, wherein the prediction unit analyzes already-inputinformation already input from the input regions and predicts the inputregion to be operated next for inputting the predictive inputinformation as a subsequently-operated region, and the region controlunit changes a display of the predicted subsequently-operated region. 8.An information processing method comprising the steps of: displaying aplurality of input regions operated by an operating body on a displayunit; detecting an approach distance between the operating body and asurface of the display unit; and enlarging the input region which theoperating body approaches and moving at least one of the input regionssuch that the adjacent input regions do not overlap each other when theoperating body approaches one of the input regions within apredetermined distance.
 9. The information processing method accordingto claim 8, wherein the step of moving at least one of the input regionscomprises the steps of: deciding a size of the input region changeddepending on the approach distance of the operating body; andcalculating an ideal position where the adjacent input regions having achanged size do not overlap each other.
 10. The information processingmethod according to claim 9, wherein the step of calculating an idealposition comprises the steps of: deciding an overlap avoidance regionwhere an overlap with the other input region is avoided for the changedsize of the input region; deciding a pair of the adjacent input regions;deciding an ideal relative position where the corresponding overlapavoidance regions do not overlap each other for the pair of inputregions; and minimizing a difference between a present relative positionof the corresponding overlap avoidance region and the ideal relativeposition and calculating the ideal position.
 11. The informationprocessing method according to claim 10, wherein the step of deciding anideal relative position, when a present position of the overlapavoidance region corresponding to the paired input region does notoverlap, assumes the present position of the overlap avoidance region asthe ideal relative position, and when the present position of theoverlap avoidance region corresponding to the paired input regionoverlaps, assumes the position to which one of the overlap avoidanceregions is moved in a reference line direction connecting the centers ofthe overlap avoidance regions so as not to overlap the other overlapavoidance region as the ideal relative position.
 12. The informationprocessing method according to claim 9, wherein the step of deciding achanged size of the input region optimizes an enlargement factor of theinput regions such that all the input regions are within a predeterminedrange.
 13. The information processing method according to claim 8,further comprising a step of predicting input information to be input bya user, wherein the region control step changes a display of the inputregion based on predictive input information as the predicted inputinformation.
 14. The information processing method according to claim13, wherein the predicting step analyzes already-input informationalready input from the input regions and predicts the input region to beoperated next for inputting the predictive input information as asubsequently-operated region, and the step of moving at least one of theinput regions changes a display of the predicted subsequently-operatedregion.
 15. A computer program for causing a computer to function as:display means for displaying a plurality of input regions operated by anoperating body on a display unit; detection means for detecting anapproach distance between the operating body and a surface of thedisplay unit; and region control means for enlarging the input regionwhich the operating body approaches and moving at least one of the inputregions such that the adjacent input regions do not overlap each otherwhen the operating body approaches one of the input regions within apredetermined distance.